The most popular stories on BetaNews this past week -- November 3-8

Another busy week with more news than you could shake a stick at. Following the release of KitKat, Google was riding high as figures revealed that Jelly Bean is now installed on more than half of Android devices. It’s a similar story for Microsoft. Its previous operating system, Windows 7, is still the most popular while growth for Windows 8 and 8.1 remains slow. It was better news for Windows Phone which is making serious inroads into Android and iOS's share of the mobile market in Europe, and even managed to overtake Apple in Italy.

It seems that more people want to be able to use the latest and greatest version of Android, and following the announcement that the Galaxy Nexus would not receive a KitKat update, a petition was quickly launched to try to change Google's mind. Showing that the march of progress will always leave casualties, Google announced that Internet Explorer 9 will no longer be supported by Google Apps, and Windows 7 users gained Internet Explorer 11. To push the launch, Microsoft unveiled a new Anime ad campaign focusing on the browser's improved security.

Joe took a look at the iPad Air and was impressed by the evolution of a product into something he felt could be a serious laptop replacement. Brian was rather less taken with the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 10 which he liked the look of but ultimately felt was slow and underpowered. The eagerly anticipated Kindle Fire HDX started shipping, and Nokia's latest Windows Phone handset, the Lumia 1520, became available for pre-order. Another piece of Microsoft hardware was showcased as the company released a video showing what the Xbox One is like to use.